Is a handrail required for glass balustrades and glass railings?
There is a lot of confusion regarding the requirement for a handrail on glass balustrades and glass railings.
We see on all the glossy magazines glass expanses and glass railings which seem to have no visible handrails on the top. This is very attractive and unobtrusive, but is this legal?
In order to ascertain this matter we need to get the answer to the following question:
What are the legal requirements in respect of handrails on glass balustrades? and are there criteria that allow glass barriers to have no handrail on top?
The answer is in black and white inside the BS6180:1999 "Barriers in and about buildings - Code of practice" , Which is the governing standard in regards to balcony railings, balcony balustrades or guarding in the United Kingdom.
In BS 6180 on page 9 under section 8.5.2 "Handrail attachment" it reads
"Where the barrier protects a difference in level greater than 600mm, a handrail should always be used. Continuous fixing should be used for fixing the handrail to the glass, as individual fixing points may introduce unacceptable stress concentrations. The handrail should be attached to the glass in such a manner that, should the glass panel fracture, the handrail (a) will remain in position; (b) will not fail if the design load is applied across the resulting gap"
This leaves absolutely NO room for interpretation, The standard states clearly that a handrail "SHOULD ALWAYS BE USED" there is no question here and this handrail must be strong enough to withstand the loads - EVEN IF ONE OF THE GLASSES BREAKS.
So the conclusion is: Glass balustrades MUST have handrails!
It seems that some building control officers have allowed balconies on properties to go on without handrails. This has recently come to light on a project in Jersey where after installation of a glass railing that did not have a handrail was then instructed to hane a handrail installed in order to have the balcony signed off.
Can this be? It seems unthinkable that other building control officers will pass a glass balustrade without a top rail. Is it up to each officer in his area?
Make sure your balcony complies with the standard and don't take any risks.
